Dangle chair for hospital beds



1957 P. s. LOCKE BANGLE CHAIR FOR HOSPITAL BEDS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 25, 1955' INVENTOR e r 5 WWW L & w

Z 6 Y B Aug. 13, 1957 P. s. LOCKE 2,802,220

DANGLE CHAIR FOR HOSPITAL BEDS Filed April 25, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i L ,WM 5 v V INVENTOR Pea cfiz'e Slack BY wm/wa United States Patent DANGLE CHAIR FOR HOSPITAL BEDS Peachie S. Locke, Modesto, Calif., assignor of one-half to Henry A. McClellan, Modesto, Caiif.

- Application April 25, 1955, Serial No. 503,443

' 2 Claims. or. -327 This invention relates to a chair for the use of a patient who is more or less bedridden for the time being, but who is in a sufiiciently convalescent condition to be able to sit up for certain periods.

A major object of my invention is to provide what I term a dangle chair, which is adapted to be supported on the mattress of a bed at one side thereof and in transversely disposed relation thereto, and having a portion of the frame of the chair depending from said one side and supporting a foot rest clear of the floor. In this manner, a patient may comfortably assume a sitting position without actually leaving the bed; the mattress of the latter forming the seat of the chair.

A further object is to arrange the chair so that it may be readily and detachably mounted on a bed in such a manner as to prevent dislodgment or slipping of the chair from the position it is intended to occupy on the bed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a chair, for the purpose, so designed that before being connected to the bed, it may be lifted and placed over. a patient already seated on one side of the bed with his legs dangling from said side, without inconvenience to or material movement of the patient.

Still another object of the invention is to arrange the chair so that one or both of the side frames thereof, including the corresponding arm rests, may be readily withdrawn from the remainder of the frame, and from connection with the bed, in order to enable the chair to be more easily placed about the patient, if a chair lifting operation is not feasible.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a chair, of the type described, which is designed for ease and economy of manufacture.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a practical and reliable dangle chair for hospital beds, and one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects are accomplished by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusual of the following specification and claims.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved chair as mounted on a hospital bed and engaged by a patient; the bed being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the chair, detached.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing particularly the means for adjustably supporting the foot rest.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary and somewhat enlarged vertical section of the chair, taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, the chair comprises a back rest unit, indicated generally at 1. This unit comprises upstanding side bars 2 connected at the top by a cross bar 3, intermediate their ends by a cross bar 4, and at the bottom by a cross bar 5; all said bars being set back somewhat from the plane of the side bars, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. Cross bars 3 and 4, and the 2 ,802,220 Patented Aug. 13,1957

adjacent portions of the side bars 2, support a lattice-type back-rest structure B of any suitable type.

Projecting forwardly from the arms 2 at their lower end, in the horizontal plane of the lower cross bar 5, are rigid dowels 6, while similar dowels 7 project forwardly from said bars 2 in a plane adjacent but below that of the intermediate cross bar 4; the dowels 6 and 7 being parallel to each other.

The side frames consist of two separate units, each indicated generally at 8; each such unit including a horizontal tubular bar 9, and a depending portion 10 at its outer or forward end. The bar 9 is open at its rear end and removably fits over the dowel 6.

An arm-rest 'bar 11 is rigidly supported at its forward end from bar 9 by a depending leg 12; bar 11 being open at its rear end to fit over dowel 7, and being parallel to and spaced from bar 9 the same distance as the spacing of the dowels so that the bars will slide onto the dowels simultaneously.

A catch lug 13 depends from each bar 11 adjacent its rear end and is engaged, when the adjacent dowel 7 is fully seated therein, by a downwardly releasable spring catch 14 mounted on and projecting from the adjacent bar 2; the lug and catch being arranged so that they engage of themselves upon sliding movement of the arm 11 over dowel 7, but can only be released upon manual depression of the catch.

The catch unit 13-14 is mounted in connection with the upper arm rest bar 11 rather than the lower bar 9, since the latter becomes practically embedded in the mattress and the catch would be hard to reach andmanipulate.

Provided for support by the bars 16 is a transverse foot rest R mounted at its ends on bracket plates 15 projecting forwardly from sleeves 16 which slidably embrace bars 10. Means to adjustably' hold each sleeve against downward movement on the corresponding bar 10 is provided in the form of a frictional gripping plate 17 embracing the bar 10 just below sleeve 16 and hinged to the forward side thereof, as at 17a. A spring 1% acts on the plate to tilt the same about the hinge; the bore 19 of the plate being arranged so that it then binds, at opposed points, against bar 10. When the plate is tilted by hand in the opposite direction, the bore 19 is freed from the bar 10, enabling the foot rest R to be lowered, assuming of course that both gripping plates are tilted by hand simultaneously. The lower ends of bars 10 are unobstructed, so that the foot rest unit may be readily disengaged from said bars.

When the chair is disposed for use it is placed at one side of the mattress 20 of a bed 21, with bars 10 depending from one side of the bed immediately adjacent the same, as shown in Fig. l. The bottom side bars 9 and bottom cross bar 5 of the chair then rest on the mattress; the latter then forming the patient-supporting seat of the chair.

In order to prevent forward movement and tilting of the chair when so disposed on the bed, an adjustable and releasable tie strap unit 22 extends from the upper cross bar 3 centrally its ends, downwardly and rearwardly over the edge of the mattress at the side thereof opposite that from which the bars 10 depend. At its lower end, unit 22 includes an upwardly facing hook 23 adapted to engage the adjacent side rail 24 of the bed from below, as shown.

To prevent forward sliding and upward and rearward tilting of the chair, each bar 10 is provided with an upwardly facing hook 25 to engage the adjacent bed rail 24. These hooks may be mounted on the legs in such a manner that they may be turned down to clear the rail 24 so as to facilitate engagement and disengagement of the chair with the bed.

When the chair is to be used, the patient is first disposed in a seated position on the bed, with the legs dangling from one side thereof, and the chair is then lifted up by the attendant and placed over and about the patient; the strap'unit 22 and the hooks 25 being then engaged with the bed rails. The'foot rest unit is then adjusted up or down, as the case may be, in order to accommodate the feet of the patient at a comfortable level.

Belt straps 26 with which the bars 2 are equipped, may be placed about the waist of the seated patient if desired.

If for any reason it is not convenient or feasible to lift the chair in toto to remove the same from the patient, the foot rest unit may be withdrawn from the bars 10, and either or both side frame units 8 disengaged from the back unit 1 by pulling units 8 straight out from the dowels after first turning the hooks 25 down so that they clear the rail 24. The backunit 1 may then be readily moved clear of the patient and of the bed. The same procedure may be conveniently followed, but in reverse, when placing the chair about the patient.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that there has been produced such an article of manufacture as will substantially fulfill the objects of the invention, as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the article, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, the following is claimed as new and useful, and upon which Letters Patent are desired:

1. A chair for use on a bed, the bed including a mattress and side frame rails below the mattress; the chair comprising an upstanding back rest unit, side frame units each including a horizontal bar to rest on the mattress transversely thereof and to project forwardly to one side of the mattress from the back rest unit at the lower end and sides thereof, and a depending bar to extend toward the floor from the forward end of the horizontal bar, the side frame units being separate from each other, means releasably connecting one of the side frame units to the back rest unit in rigid relationship therewith while allowing relative separating movement of the units in a direction from front to back of the chair, and releasable catch means between the back rest unit and said side frame unit to prevent such separation.

2. A chair for use on a bed, the bed including a mattress and side frame rails below the mattress; the chair comprising an upstanding back rest unit, separate side frame units each including a horizontal bar to rest on the mattress transversely thereof and to project forwardly to one side of the mattress from and rigid with the back rest unit at the lower end and sides thereof, and an arm rest bar rigid with and above the horizontal bar, both bars being open at their rear end, and means removably mounting one of the side frames on the back rest unit; the latter including side bars, said last named means comprising vertically spaced dowels projecting forwardly from one of said side bars in position to enter the open ends of the side frame bars of said one side frame, and releasable catch means between the upper bar of the one side frame and the corresponding side bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,171,840 DApice Feb. 15, 1916 2,448,924 Smith Sept. 7, 1948 2,529,350 Posz Nov. 7, 1950 2,587,194 Mitchell Feb. 26, 1952 2,624,394 De Milto Jan. 6, 1953 2,769,483 Peterson Nov. 6, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 76,499 Austria May 26, 1919 

